That's not a metaphor for some kind of revival of game interest. We're plenty interested in games already. No, we actually caught the bug.

In between fits of coughing and hacking and curling up into quivering balls of pain, we managed to get more work done, though! So there's something.

Mike created a new Stock Market prototype with some balanced card designs. We felt the original prototype was very "Euro." Players focused on their own business and it felt like several simultaneous single-player games and not the bloody free-for-all that we were hoping. (Not to say anything bad about Euro games. We like those. It's just that our working title Stock Market: 1929 is not supposed to be that kind of game.) So we all put our heads together and came up with ways for players to completely screw each other over.

The game, which had clocked in at a potential 4 hours in Puyallup, can now be finished in under an hour without too much trouble. Instead of players focusing only on their own stash, they must constantly react to the wrenches thrown into the system by their opponents. We made this game yet we feel uncomfortable playing it because of how tense the situation can get. We like that.

That is all for this week. We'll have more for you once we can breathe through our noses again.